Need to know the answer to the question: "How do I make my laptop faster"? This does not surprise me because Windows based computers, as ever, are still getting more and more slower within just a few months of being brand new. In this article, I'll show you how to fight the effects of time and keep your computer faster and for longer with some Windows performance tweaks.

Disable Startup Programs

The boot time (time from switching on to being available for use) of a brand new PC is around 30 seconds. But after a few months of use that can go up to a minute easily. I have seen 5 year old PCs that now take about 5 minutes to get working!

This is because as you install more and more new programs, many of them like to load themselves up in memory before you've even opened them! They do this when you start your computer which is why everything is so slow until you wait a moment. See those icons in the lower right hand corner? Companies use this space for branding rather than functionality and the net effect is that you lose out!

Go to Start, Run, then type in "msconfig". From here you can disable startup programs to your heart's content.

Get Rid Of The Flashy Graphics

Even Windows XP out of the box is too flashy, let alone Vista. You can however restore the look and feel of your Windows system to a basic look. In actuality, this is far more functional and you do not need to wait for any stupid animations to complete as you navigate around menus.

This comes under "Performance" options in Windows. These are hidden out of the way but if you right-click "My Computer" and go to "Properties" then you should be able to find this option. This will really make your laptop faster.

Defrag

Yes, you probably already know this one already. But it's still as important as ever. Have you defragmented your hard disk? Windows PCs come automatically with defrag software these days that you can set and forget for a couple of hours. After that, your hard disk read / write performance should be vastly improved.